Spousal Support Entitlement

[NBDad]

It's never "automatic". You have to prove you meet the requirements for it.

The intent is to bring the spouse with the lower income to within 45% of the Net Disposable Income of the spouse with the higher amount of income. Duration of spousal support tends to be based on the duration of the actual "marriage". (6 months to 1 year of spousal PER 1 year of actual marriage is the rule of thumb).

Where a marriage dissolves when the spouses are nearing or actively retired, it CAN be "lifetime", but that is rare. (Considering if you are say 60, and have been married for 30 years....techically you are entitled to up to 15 years of spousal support...the average lifespan of the man is like 77-78 or so, do the math there.)

[CISTEAD]

Yep, my fiance went all the way to trial. We won. Judges really don't like it when you don't try to reach an agreement. We made offer after offer, all refused by his ex. There are only so many things they can rule on in a Case Conference, so if the parties don't agree, you go to trial. Very Very Expensive if you have a lawyer. If you have a lawyer, and the other party doesn't, you could be looking at some high legal costs, as the other party can stall and they may think they are getting away with it, but at the end, they will be sorry. You can always ask for costs for you lawyer if you win, but this doesn't always happen.

[Mess]

It's never automatic the way child support is, but 2.5-3x would be a strong case.

In Ontario there is a "rule of 65" which is not actually a rule, but something commonly found in court. Add the age of the spouse to the years of marriage, if it adds up to 65 or more, they will usually make it indefinate.

[Stressed by Ex]

I will check out "guarandamnteed".

I do believe I will fall into the 2% statistic and then I guess I will be the first one to post about my trial experience. I hope I'm wrong, but my Ex and his lawyer have threatened me with trial for 2 years and have exhausted everything else available. I have and exit pre trial conference scheduled for May 12.

Some more basic facts that may help you all give me some real Married 16 years and the battle has been on going for 4 - 3 of which have been spent in and out of court for 3 years. He makes $50,000 and I earn $90,000. 3 kids and I receive no child support. He refuses to pay. I have full custody so that's a non-issue. Does that mean I make 2x as much and he's automatically entitled? If yes, for how long would he be eligible. He was not the primary caregiver and didn't sacrifice his career for our children - all this can be easily proven.

Some background - I have accumulated $60,000 in legal debt in 3 years all brought on by my Ex - starting with the first year dealing with a conflict of interest in which my Ex's first lawyer was ulimately removed as solicitor of record. Since hiring his 2nd lawyer, I have been repeatedly threatened with ongoing litigation in an attempt to break me - financially and emotionally. Dragged into court 8 times in one year and now being threatened with trial my ex knows I can't afford.

Pleae help me understand what is the most realistic outcome in terms of his claim for SS. I'm barely making ends meet and have a daughter heading to university in 1 year and 2 more following closely behind.

[logicalvelocity]

Originally Posted by dadtotheend

Search "guarandamnteed" in this forum.

Only 2% of cases go to trial. You're not one of them, guarandamnteed.

Ask anyone here to tell you about their trial experiences. There isn't anyone.

We went to a second trial management conference. Anyone got some personal experiences to share about exit pre trial conferences, or trials?

Are you sure - I know a few that went down that road.